Places of Love
by Jasmine Venn
Summary: Five short moments between Remus and Sirius, all set in different locations.
1. Hyde Park

**A/N: I wrote these for the second run of The Five Drabbles Competition organised by alyssialui. I even managed to get them in chronological order this time round!**

 **Many thanks to Coco96, who was kind enough to beta the collection for me.**

 **Prompt: Walking the dog.**

* * *

It was Remus who came up with a way to get Sirius out of 12 Grimmauld Place. He convinced Hermione to help him buy Muggle clothes, a dog collar, and a map of London under the pretence of an assignment for the Order. No one caught the lie and within a week he had a plan so foolproof that even Molly Weasley couldn't bring herself to reject it.

Sirius was giddy with anticipation and didn't complain about the collar. On one sunny Saturday morning Remus apparated both of them to Hyde Park. He was only vaguely familiar with Muggle London, and had chosen the park purely for strategic reasons: it was far away enough from the Borough of Islington, yet still in the city centre. It surprised him pleasantly – it was large, well-maintained and full of life. The two could easily blend in with the crowd of eccentrically dressed teenagers, tourists carrying futuristic cameras, and seasoned Londoners. It seemed like no one could be out of place there.

It was a gorgeous day and Remus indulged in running like a young boy after Sirius and playing catch. When they both tired, the werewolf sat on the grass and fished a sandwich out of his bag. Still in dog form, Sirius snuggled against him.

'I wish our world could be like this,' Remus said in between bites.

Sirius nodded and tilted his head towards a young couple that was passing by. The two men were holding hands and laughing at some inside joke they shared. No one seemed to bat an eye and Remus smiled. Wizarding society, with its dwindling numbers, quietly disapproved of such public displays of affection. There were worse things than being gay, of course – like being a werewolf, for example, or an Azkaban escapee – but it still caused unsavoury comments.

'Maybe we should just move to Muggle London after the war. Hide our wands and spend entire summers in the park.'

Sirius snuggled closer in agreement.


	2. The Shrieking Shack

**A/N: Trigger warning for depression. Feel free to skip this one if it makes you feel uncomfortable. The rest of the collection is fluffier, I promise!**

 **Prompt: crying.**

* * *

After the war Remus spent his days at home, trying to drown his sorrows in whatever bottle was at hand. He had tracked down the owner of the Shrieking Shack, bought it, added a few windows and a proper door and called it a house. The small changes did little to convince Hogwarts students and Hogsmeade residents that the place wasn't haunted; that he never bothered with any gardening or other maintenance didn't help either. Even Severus, his only persistent acquaintance of late, stayed away from his home. Remus was mostly left in peace.

Mostly, since at that moment someone was quite insistently knocking on his door.

'Remus, I know you're in there. Open the door!' a shrill female voice said.

It was Hermione Granger. She'd become an Unspeakable, of all things. Remus wondered idly how many times she passed The Veil every day at work and whether she still believed there was nothing behind it. He made no motion to grant her request.

'Remus Lupin, if you don't open the door this instant, I swear I will have Minerva drag you out.'

It wasn't the threat that made him get up. It was the low, deep laughter that accompanied it, a sound so painfully familiar he was sure he had imagined it.

He hadn't. By the door stood the bossy little witch, hair in a messy bun and a look of worry on her face. And behind her and slightly to the left was Sirius – happy, healthy, clean-shaven and impossible. He was wearing standard Ministry robes that didn't quite fit. Remus reached towards his chest, had to touch in order to believe.

'Look who I discovered at work today,' Hermione said with a small smile.

Remus' eyes, dry and raw from months of grief, suddenly welled up again with tears.


	3. 12 Grimmauld Place

**A/N: Fluff as promised. Prompt: sewing kit.**

* * *

When Sirius came out of the shower he was greeted with the sight of the half-dressed Remus looking rather disappointedly at his open suitcase. The robe he'd been wearing over breakfast was now laying on the bed. It was sporting a rather impressive tear across the back.  
'You okay, Moony?' Sirius asked while picking underwear from a pile of what he hoped were clean clothes.  
'I think I've lost it,' Remus replied in disbelief.  
'It's nice to hear you finally admit it.'  
'No, you prat. I've lost my sewing kit. I don't remember packing it, did you? It was a light blue tin box, quite old and a little dented.'  
'Doesn't ring a bell, sorry,' Sirius said, shifting uncomfortably. He could distinctly recall binning the box – "a little dented" was quite the understatement.  
'I tore my black robe again, and now I'm going to be late for work because I can't find the bloody sewing kit!'  
'Just borrow some of my clothes. And please, for the love of Merlin, let me take you shopping,' Sirius sighed and tossed him a robe he was about to put on. This was a conversation he suspected they'd have more than once.  
'Padfoot, thank you for the offer, but I really don't want to impose. I don't want to feel like some sort of...'  
'What, kept man? Hardly. You at least have a job. All I have is the Black family fortune and just one lifetime to spend it. I could really use the help.'  
Despite the protests, Remus did put the robe on. It was a little big on him but he was already too late to care much. He mouthed a thank you, pecked Sirius on the cheek and promptly Floo-ed away.  
The two visited Madam Malkin's three weeks later, after Sirius had accidentally set the walk-in-wardrobe on fire.


	4. The Hog's Head

**A/N: The prompt for this one was the song Feeling Good by Michael Bublé.**

* * *

Minerva McGonagal had decided that being in charge of Hogwarts also made her something akin to the mayor of Hogsmeade. The impact of her work was most evident in the Hog's Head. Under the witch's patronage the inn had turned from a dingy and unwelcoming place to a successful business.

Live music had become common on Friday nights, and Remus was a regular. He would occasionally bring his acoustic guitar along and play a song or two at the crowd's insistence, usually in accompaniment to travelling minstrels and the like. Sirius, who had given up on music as soon as he'd discovered that playing an instrument required actual effort, rarely came along.

'Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,' Aberforth greeted one Friday night. 'Tonight we are in for a treat! Our very own Remus Lupin has a new song he'd like to share with us.'

There was a round of applause, and someone at the back shouted a question, 'Who's singing?'

'Remus himself, believe it or not,' Aberforth answered and stepped away in order to give the floor to the werewolf.

'Hello, everyone. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Remus. It's been awhile since I've written anything, but my partner and I recently purchased a house in Hogsmeade. We moved in last week and the song more or less popped into my head. Anyway, here goes.'

The room went dead quiet as he set on the wooden stool reserved for performers and started playing. His voice was deep, melodic and surprisingly smooth. The song itself wasn't a love song, as many expected, or at least not obviously so. No, it was a song about happiness, about sunny days and peaceful nights.

'It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life,' Remus sang the last few lines with closed eyes, 'for me. And I'm feeling good.'

The audience's enthusiastic applause only increased when Sirius emerged from behind the counter, where he'd spent a good portion of the evening unobserved. He embraced Remus, ignoring the good-natured teasing of Aberforth and several of the regulars.

'I was wondering,' Sirius whispered timidly in his lover's ear, 'whether you would do me the honour of calling me your husband rather than partner?'


	5. Paradiso Cottage

**A/N: Last one! It has salmon as a colour prompt.**

* * *

When Lyra decided to redecorate her room according to some marine theme she'd found in a Muggle book, her fathers sighed in relief. They both agreed her pink phase had lasted long enough.

Sirius and Remus offered to help but when the adolescent witch learnt they didn't know a single thing about interior design, she shooed them out and called a house elf instead. After a week and a half of banging noises, loud music and the sharp smell of paint that had somehow managed to settle across the entire house, she invited them back.

Lyra's floor, which had always been buried under piles of bright robes and books on duelling, was actually visible. The dark walnut parquetry had been replaced by some sort of paler woodwork that mimicked sand. A fluffy turquoise rug covered the space right by the bed. All of the furniture in the room had been substituted with items in lighter colours ranging from cream to a deep gold. However, it was the walls that presented the most striking change by far.

'Well,' Sirius started saying with a tight smile on his face. 'This is certainly very...'

'... pink,' his husband finished. His eyes were watering from the brightness of the paint.

'Men!' Lyra scoffed theatrically. 'Everything is either pink, or blue, or green to you. You have no eye for detail whatsoever!'

'This,' she pointed at one of the walls, 'isn't just pink; it's salmon pink. Which, I'll have you know, is completely different from light, regular, and dark salmon. Did you know that there are over sixty standard tints and shades of pink?'

The two men cleared out of the room as fast as they could. Later Remus would call it "an essential educational experience". Sirius couldn't quite tell whether he meant for them or for their daughter.


End file.
